Monitoring of ice growth on the East channel and on shallow lakes in the Mackenzie Delta

Abstract

Our technique containing the Kennaugh decomposition, ortho-rectification, radiometric enhancement and normalization is universal applicable for multi-sensor, multi-polarization and multi-temporal processing provides important and meaningful information for the monitoring of arctic environments. The calibrated and ortho-rectified imagery, i.e. the intensity images and Kennaugh elements, are delivered. The compatibility of further decomposition processing like Freeman- Durden is ensured. The goal is to offer this post processor system to the users as add on to the standard level 1b processing presented. The classifications of different ice types based on the Kennaugh elements show an application area for our technique with the primarily goal to understand better the freezing process of the East Channel and of the circumjacent shallow lakes. The object is to classify more ice types like frazil ice and ice with bubbles and to compare the freezing process between winter 2012 and winter 2013.